Tonight involved finishing up an online class with a 9pm deadline. I totally finished everything and rewarded myself with a trip to Joann's to by the batting for the Star Wars Quilt! Joann's has Bamboo quilting batting in all of the bed sizes. I got home, blocked it out, realized i shouldn't have cut the backing last night :(, and got everything pinned together. This is my first quilt and i'm going with just asking people for advice here and there, NO internet tutorials. I really want this to have that hand made feel to it. So far so good! The left of the quilt is a bit wobbly...but i should be able to work that out in sewing.

Here are some pictures of the beginning of the tacking. Nope, i'm not tacking it in nearly enough places, but it's going to be purty! Forget functional! Well atleast not washable; the bamboo is extremely warm. I had it on my lap this evening and had to turn off the heater...

Last minute plans decided yesterday to head to Oakland for the Hubba Bubba Review...so very quick costume assembly. Not bad for 10 minutes! Also wore a light weight black button front shirt with embroidery on it so as not to freeze to death. Must start working on a crochet thread shawl for such occasions.

So i promised J a star wars quilt in Christmas '07. During the year the idea evolved from sheet blocks to using his old t-shirts instead. The blocks were cut out and arranged in May '08. On Friday i finally got around to start the seaming. Who knew quilting could take oh so long. ;p

My procrastinating and scarceness at home hasn't helped either. Well after 3 days of the sewing machine on the kitchen table i finally finished piecing the top. All in all it was about 5 hours. Not a long time for the size, nearly 5' x 5'. I also got the back cut out from one of the original sheet blocks. They were nearly identical in width (sheet was 2" wider!!!). Length was different, luckily it was longer so it worked out perfectly. Now i have 5 days before the next NY trip for work. The goal is to buy the batting and start tacking this week, so when i get home i have minimal work and can focus on my new costume for the Steampunk Costume Salon in March.

estelle is a vampireshe has a novel way of leaving her calling cardsing along by the campfireshe'll leave her mark while she's stealing your heartforget her lies about not drinking wineyou love her though you're gonna turn blueher madness grows like the thorns on a rosei'd wear a cross if i were you

if you want to date heryou better get her home before shesees the first light of daybut sooner or laterthe best laid plans of mice and men go astrayshe's the kind of girl put your head in a whirlshe's bound by tradition of victorian moralsthe daughter of the devil and the mother of pearli'd let her alone if i were you

don't look backit's a trapit a factit's a booby trap booby trap

don't turn around or she'll surely roll you overthere's no doubt about when i found out i got wise

hypnotized all of the timebut you better get it through your headshe's out to control your mindnosferatu - she's undead

she'll get your love like a hand in a glovethe fangs of a bat and the heart of a dovefrom hell below or heaven abovei wouldn't let her in if i were you

what's it about? does it snow in transylvannia?try to chill her out when i found out i got wise

Currently looking out at the rain trying to pretend it's snow, and luckily for me, failing miserably. I'm back in NY for work doing some training, yea for employment that travels me. Unfortunately they pretty much only send me one place, but that one place is downtown Manhattan in a not so bad part of town...so no real complaints. Since i will be traveling so much in 2009 i've decided each trip MUST squeeze out at least one yarn crawl with a minimum of two stops. I hadn't been to ANY yarn shops here before which is crazy seeing that i spent more then two months in ny last year split up over 10 different trips.

Tonight i got out and did some exploring!

First stop was a fantastic small shop Downtown Yarns in the East Village. This is now on the top five list of all yarn stores in the states. Awesome selection, especially for the small space. They had super friendly staff including a giant golden shaggy dog that was just hangin out. Downtown Yarns had a gorgeous store front display of knit snowflakes.

Even though my stash is bursting and in a giant relocation project, i still had to make one purchase, as i can never avoid rainbow color yarn.

Jamie Harmon - 50/50 Merino/Angora. I bought the three skins they had, and now am the proud owner of 150 yards that must be knit into a simply gorgeous (and SOFT) scarf. And pattern ideas since the yarns already kinda busy?

Next was a pop into a store i had heard great things about...Knit NY. They have a small "cafe" type area in the front of the store where they sell tea and coffee, well atleast they claim to. I arrived a few minutes after 7pm and no tea, no coffee, no nothing. This was kinda depressing as i passed up tea at dinner to grab some here. Next was a moderatly friendly staff; not in your face, but still checking if you have any questions every 15 minutes or so. They had TONS of beautiful Noro yarn; a whole small wall dedicated to the awesomeness that is the Noro. So far mostly basic yarns, nothing hand spun or ANY fiber, and the wall of Noro. Then i came a across the perfect scarf sample for the brand new rainbow yarn. I asked about the pattern and was told it was a house pattern. To this store "House Pattern" means you get the pattern for free, but can ONLY obtain said pattern if you buy the yarn that it's sampled in. The yarn it was sampled in was crap. I was very willing to spend more money on other yarn or pay for the pattern and was flat out refused. Then walked away from. Needless to say nothing was purchased and with my small pile of found treasures still on the counter i walked out. I totally get the "no you can't have the pattern for free", which i didn't ask for...but i totally don't get why i couldn't get it no matter what. Silly and not worth the trouble, off the list.

Non-knitting, my current favorite vegetarian restaurant in NY is Dirt Candy in the East Village. This amazing place opened in November of 2008. The entire place only seats about 16, so reservations are a must, but totally worth it. Jalapeno Hushpuppies? Carrot Rissotto? Vegan Chocolate Cake? All yummy! Also one of the best logos ever!

First post of the year has nothing to do with anything crafty in the normal sense of the word...but since my cooking/growing blog has gotten no love in months here is a cooking update.

New Years Day was the first day of my living in my apartment alone in lots of years. I decided i needed an awesome all day (and night) activity to help me pass the time and do some bonding with my house. Thus the Tamale making was decided. I have "tried" to make tamales once before, but not with a lot of success. I found a good vegetarian filling recipe online and already had a vegetarian masa recipe.

The process was started the night before with the soaking of the husks. Around noon I began preparing the filling. Yummy! Next masa was prepared and then tamales assembled! I added some cheese as cheese is a requirement, mmmm... I didn't follow the recipe here, but they had awesome step by step instructions on making tamales, which were reviewed many times for the actual assemblage of the goodness.

About Me

I love music (mostly good things, but i have my lapses of pity ; ), movies, and books mostly sci fi and other fantasy style fiction. There is also some weird obsession lately with non-fiction about the 1800's through 1940's. Most of my time is spent between work and hangin out with friends. Other small bits of spare time include making things like period/fantasy costuming, spinning yarn, and drinkin tea (i love tea). I enjoy hiking and urban exploration, who doesn't love a good cemetery on a friday night ; )